By the end of last week we had moved firmly into working on the shade structure over the classroom area. Since we are in full-on rain delay at the moment, I thought we should take a look at the progress over the last part of last week.

After all the posts were staked, the contractor outlined the location of the concrete pad for the new demonstration table.

Here’s the pile of lumber that they brought in for the structure. It looks like an awfully small pile!

Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to dig that hole? The thing that is pretty interesting about it is that after you get 4-6″ down, the soil is sandy. That’s the original soil from the site! Hurray for dumping fill clay on top for construction. This is one of the holes for setting the main posts on the shade structure.

Here they are placing the main posts and using the braces and string to make sure everything is where it needs to be.

On Friday, they had all the posts in place, braced, and wrapped. The next step was pouring all the concrete into those holes. Because of the layout, they were bringing it in by wheelbarrow loads. The concrete and posts were left to set over the weekend.

Today, of course, it is raining, so nothing is progressing at the moment. The rain is nice for everyone else, but we really wish it would stop!